The covenant of the Name is an everlasting covenant of peace whose foundation is wisdom’s embrace of glory that sustains the Name, ‘I AM,’ God’s indwelling presence in the midst of his covenant community and the whole created cosmos (Exodus 3:14-17; Ezekiel 37: 26-28). This covenant of the Name in the desert is trustworthy and sure, being a covenant of grace… Read more »
In his Third Letter, Saint Antony tells us, “He who knows himself knows God” (Chitty SLG 1975 pg 11). He bears witness in the Spirit that all who know themselves know God and glorify God aright, knowing God’s own God-centred knowledge of God which undergirds God’s God-centred glorification of God. For Antony the Great, desert father of monks and solitaries, it was… Read more »
The wisdom of the desert is the revelation of the Name, which is an Eternal Gospel proclaimed to all the inhabitants of the earth, all nations, tribes, languages and peoples (Rev 14:6). The Name is an Eternal Gospel because it declares the good news of God’s eternal Kingdom in our midst, revealing God’s timeless, sovereign ‘I’ awareness and ‘AM’ presence here… Read more »
Wisdom in the desert regenerates the imagination, inspiring radical transforming vision, renewing the language and imagery of vision for an age that has lost vision. Desert wisdom retells old myths and stories in new, liberating ways, to awaken hearts in times that have lost faith in wisdom. Desert prophecy was always radically counter-cultural, inspiring imagery that regenerates degenerated imagination, imagination conditioned… Read more »
The Revelation of the Name hallows the ground where the bush burns, glorifying all who turn to see, unveiling the Name that consumes confusion whilst abiding in the Name that does not consume (Ex 3:1-14). Christ’s wisdom opens heavens on earth when the Name is hallowed on earth as in heaven, which is why the Lord’s Prayer hallows the Name, that… Read more »
Desert wisdom imparts the Tetragrammaton, the four letter Name of God, YHWH, and the two letter Name YH or Yah, in the light of the Name ‘I AM’ in Exodus 3:14 and the ‘I AM’ sayings in the Gospel of John. It does so in the tradition of Ezekiel’s chariot-throne vision and the revelation of the three tenses of the… Read more »
Christ the Logos is the meaning of being unveiled as saving grace. Christ covers our repeated falls from glory with saving grace, love’s ineffable glory, addressing our straying and stressing with the radiance of his timeless Name uniting wisdom and glory. When the Name is not hallowed as it is in heaven, an endless range of opinions easily intrude, obscuring… Read more »
The Eternal Gospel (Rev 14:6), is unveiled in the desert as the hidden gospel concealed from before the foundation of the world, the primordial gospel unveiling the most ancient of days, the timeless Day of the revealed Name, awareness of wisdom and presence of glory. The Eternal Gospel unveils ‘I AM’ in the midst, inspiring glad tidings that are timeless,… Read more »
God’s Name reveals God, the Spirit bearing witness to God the Son, the Son bearing witness to God the Father, the Father bearing witness through the Spirit to the Son. The Name ‘I AM’ is awareness bearing witness to presence as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Holy Trinity, each person pointing to the other as awareness welcoming presence, as wisdom beholding… Read more »
Desert fathers were immersed in Christ’s wisdom and consequently were profoundly aware of the presence of angels. In this they were consistent with the first Christians of the New Testament and with the Eastern Churches of the early centuries. Angels were sons of God Most High and saints like angels were sons of God by grace. So when elders passed from… Read more »